Sinclair Lewis First Editions

• Main Street — 1920 · Harcourt, Brace and Howe, New YorkFirst issue, first state: imprint reads 'HARCOURT, BRACE AND HOWE' on the title page and spine (the firm was renamed Harcourt, Brace & Co. shortly after); 1920 on both title and copyright pages. Textual first-state points: a perfect, unbroken 'y' in the word 'May' on page 387, and an unbattered '54' in the page number on page 54. Blue cloth with orange lettering; first-issue dust jacket. True US first; the US Harcourt edition precedes the UK Hodder & Stoughton edition. The 'Harcourt, Brace and Howe' imprint is the principal first-issue point. No book club edition for the first. Later printings carry the 'Harcourt, Brace & Company' imprint.
• Babbitt — 1922 · Harcourt, Brace and Company, New YorkFirst issue, first state has the textual error 'Purdy' for 'Lyte' on page 49 (line 4), with 'my fellow human' on the following line; this reading was corrected in later printings. Copyright page carries the first-printing statement 'Published September, 1922'. Bound in dark blue cloth stamped in orange on spine and front board. True US first; precedes the UK Cape edition of 1922. The page 49 'Purdy' for 'Lyte' reading is the standard point distinguishing the first issue. Not a book-club book. Later printings add additional-printing statements on the copyright page and correct the page 49 reading.
• Arrowsmith — 1925 · Harcourt, Brace & CompanyThe true first is the signed limited edition, numbered and limited to 500 copies on handmade paper, signed by the author, quarter-bound in white buckram and blue boards with a paper spine label, top edges gilt, with an extra spine label tipped in, issued in glassine within a blue cardboard slipcase. The first trade edition is the second printing: it is so identified on the copyright page and was issued in orange…. US Harcourt, Brace 1925 is the true first, with precedence belonging to the 500-copy signed limited edition on handmade paper. The trade edition follows and its copyright page identifies it as the first trade edition (effectively the second printing). Grosset & Dunlap reprints are clearly marked and later. No major book-club edition of note.
• Elmer Gantry — 1927 · Harcourt, Brace and Company, New YorkFirst-issue binding shows the 'G' in 'Gantry' on the spine appearing as a 'C' (the letter has a rounded base that reads as an open C); this was very slightly recut in the second issue. Copyright page carries the first-printing statement 'Published March, 1927'. Bound in blue cloth stamped in orange. First-issue dust jacket carries the printed price on the flap. True US first; precedes the UK Cape edition of 1927. The 'C' for 'G' spine reading is the recognized first-issue binding point. Not a book-club book. Signed copies offered in commerce are signed trade firsts, not a separate limited issue.
• Dodsworth — 1929 · Harcourt, Brace and Company, New YorkFirst issue identified by the first-printing statement 'Published, March, 1929' on the copyright page. Bound in navy blue cloth lettered and framed in orange. First-issue dust jacket carries the printed price on the front flap. True US first; precedes the UK Cape edition of 1929. Lewis won the Nobel Prize in 1930. Not a book-club book. Later printings add additional-printing statements. Signed copies in commerce are signed trade firsts.
• It Can't Happen Here — 1935 · Doubleday, Doran & CompanyThe first printing has "First Edition" stated on the copyright page — Doubleday, Doran's practice in this period, and the decisive point. Bound in original decorated black cloth, the front panel stamped in blind and the spine panel stamped in gilt; top edge stained yellow; cream endpapers; deckle edges. Octavo, collating [1-6] [1] 2-458 pages. The jacket should be a priced jacket, with the price present at the…. The US Doubleday, Doran 1935 edition is the true first — confirmed; Bauman states "First edition" on the copyright page and cites Bruccoli & Clark 218. Lewis wrote in English and was published in the US first, so no original-language question arises. The first UK edition is Jonathan Cape, London, 1935, published later the same year; it is separately collected and is seldom found with its jacket, which carries the…. The Sun Dial Press (Garden City, New York) issued a cheap reprint — also dated 1935, which is precisely the trap, since the matching year invites a misread. Sun Dial was Doubleday's reprint imprint: the Sun Dial title page and the absence of the "First Edition" copyright-page statement are the tells, and a 1935 date on a Sun Dial copy signifies nothing. A stated "First Edition" on a Doubleday, Doran copyright….
• Kingsblood Royal — 1947 · Random HouseFirst edition, Random House, New York, 1947, 348pp. The copyright page states 'First Printing,' which identifies the first-edition text. Two forms were issued: (1) the trade first in black cloth with gilt lettering and the author's gilt initials to the front cover, in a priced pictorial dust jacket; and (2) a signed limited issue of 1,050 numbered copies, signed by Lewis, bound in red cloth with a black spine…. US Random House 1947 is the true first and precedes the first UK edition (Jonathan Cape, London, 1948). The signed limited of 1,050 was published simultaneously with the trade first rather than ahead of it; neither has clear textual precedence over the other. A Random House book-club edition exists and is common. Tells: a blindstamp (small deboss) on the lower rear board near the spine, 'Book Club Edition' printed on the lower front dust-jacket flap with no price present, thinner/cheaper bulk, and frequently no top-edge staining. The book-club jacket lacks the price found on the trade jacket flap.

More Literary Fiction (US) & Award Winners shelves: Stanley Elkin, Stephen Baxter, Stephen Bury (Neal Stephenson and J. Frederick George), Stephen Crane, Steven Millhauser, Susan Sontag.

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